Farley: Re-signing Welker a must for Patriots

Friday

Dec 28, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 28, 2012 at 6:02 PM

With each passing week, the latest this past Sunday’s 10-reception performance in Jacksonville, it becomes more and more apparent. The Patriots can’t allow wide receiver Wes Welker to run a fly pattern out of New England in 2013.

Glen Farley/Gatehouse News Service

With each passing week, the latest this past Sunday’s 10-reception performance in Jacksonville, it becomes more and more apparent.

The Patriots can’t allow wide receiver Wes Welker to run a fly pattern out of New England in 2013.

There is no option here. None. One way or another, a deal must get done.

If the tone of this column sounds familiar, it should. We were here this past year.

The resolution, when negotiations failed to provide one, was the placement of the franchise tag on Welker at a cost of $9.5 million, a move that, if nothing else, bought the team some time.

The investment, although hefty, has proven wise.

His fifth Pro Bowl berth announced Wednesday, we have visible proof that Welker’s talents haven’t waned at the age of 31.

An early-season fling with Julian Edelman, the "heir apparent" to Welker, was foolish, proving futile when it became obvious that he was no replacement for the slot machine.

Welker, once given the opportunity, has simply gone back to being his old self.

Put him down for another 100-plus-reception season, that would be five (in six seasons with the Patriots) by my count, a feat never before seen in the NFL.

Pencil him in – no, use pen – to play in every game, something he’s done in six of his nine seasons with Miami and the Patriots, a feat hybrid Aaron Hernandez – another guy who was allegedly going to help replace Welker – hasn’t managed in his three years in the league.

Four times this season, Welker has reached double figures in receptions in a game: 13 against Denver, 12 at Miami, a pair of 10s (at Seattle and Jacksonville).

With that, Welker now has 18 career games with at least 10 catches, the most in league history, one more than Houston’s Andre Johnson and the greatest receiver to ever play the game, Jerry Rice.

The fact of the matter is, there isn’t a soul on this roster who can even come close to doing what Welker does.

According to Ty Law, there isn’t a soul in the NFL who can do what Welker does.

"You’re the best in the game," the cornerback-turned-Comcast Sports Net New England analyst told Welker while interviewing him following the Patriots’ 23-16 win over the Jaguars last Sunday. "Your numbers speak for itself. Get your money."

Admittedly, the cost of doing business with Welker in 2013 will again be hefty.

Inflation, you know.

If the two sides are unable to come to an agreement during the offseason on a multiyear contract, the Patriots could play tag with Welker once again, this time at a cost of $11.4 million.

It’s true that’s more than half of the roughly $22 million cap figure his batterymate, Tom Brady, will carry in 2013 (through a contract restructuring earlier this year), and as ESPNBoston.com’s Mike Reiss pointed out last Sunday it would tie up more than $33 million in two players; that’s more than 27 percent of the $121 million cap that Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reported the NFLPA is anticipating in 2013.

Given that, there are those who will say the Patriots can’t afford to keep Welker, who, after all, is "only a slot receiver."